“Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”
Dear Church Family,
This has been such a strange and surreal week. And I sense that this will be the new norm for several weeks to come. I want you to know that I am thinking of you and praying for you. I’m actually keeping my church directory in hand everywhere I go that I might look through it and pray for each of you by name. I’d encourage us all to adopt some practice in this time that might keep us connected, if not in person, then through God’s Spirit.
One of the great blessings of this time in which we live is that where we cannot connect physically we can virtually. In these next weeks we’ll be doing our best here at FPC to create points of connection. The first and most important of which is providing a virtual Sunday Service.
Starting this Sunday at 10am you are invited to our first virtual service through a “Zoom Webinar.” All you’ll need to do is click on the link below at 10am to join!
In addition to Sunday service you’ll notice a separate link to connect afterward in a Zoom Meeting (kind of like a chat room). Fellowship is a cornerstone of our church community and this meeting time is designed to connect us that we might check in and share life together even in this season. For this time of fellowship, we may have to be careful
to mute our phones and computers
when not speaking, as many have noticed a feedback loop can be created in these meetings.
We have for some time now had a church Facebook page and I’d encourage you now more than ever to “like” and “follow” our page as this mode of connection may be our quickest and best way. A big thanks to Betsy Kastak who’s done a wonderful job managing our Page.
This week we also created a church Youtube channel and posted the thoughts from last week’s sermon. I realize the sound on the video is terrible, but we’re all on a pretty steep learning curve and hope to get these things running more smoothly in the days and weeks to come. Please be patient with us as we join in this new venture.
In this time your generosity and support are appreciated more than ever. We’re working hard to make it as easy and straightforward as possible to support the mission of First Presbyterian Church Durango. With our office temporarily closed our bank, Alpine Bank, has graciously agreed to have contributions made out to FPC directly mailed to them (address below) should you choose. We will still be regularly checking the church mailbox, our online direct bill pay options are up and running, and we should have a way to make direct contributions through our website by early next week! If you have questions regarding any of this please contact Chris Calwell at
cjcalwell@aol.com
.
Please also stay tuned for more points of connection as our Ministry Staff, Elders, and Deacons have several wonderful ideas and more keep coming in. Perhaps God has given us such a time as this—and during Lent no less!—to become more connected in different ways as we realize just how important our church family and community really is!
God bless and keep you this week!
Beau
Alpine Bank
1099 Main Ave.
Durango, CO 81301
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1 Samuel 16:1-13
The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.
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John 9:1-41
As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”
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First Presbyterian Church | 970-247-3175 | 1159 E 3rd Ave Durango, CO 81301
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